Gateway 6400 FAQ-UUUUUUUU

[CoCoKola]

Could someone help?! I've spent two hours searching Gateway so I can order the rails for two new 36gig u160 drives & a 5 1/4 AIT tape backup, and I can't find them for the life of me!

I found the seciton that talks about rails, but I must be blind : http://www.necxdirect.com/hai/tmpl.html?nonce=guest_gate&page=subcat0000118
Accesories

Also, does the on-board u160 controller support hardware RAID?

 

[PlatinumGold]

cocacola

call here.

they have a palo alto case that is identical to the gateway case well, it's almost identical, the front cover is different but the interior is the same. i'm sure they can get you that set of rails for less than the $30.00 that gateway charges.

good luck.

oh btw, the link is to the case. you can get their number via the main site page.

 

[pillage2001]

Off topic but I kinda like the post's title.

 

[camara120]

<< camara120,
that's really cool! I didn't think about such a simple trick! Let us know how it goes... >>



I just got a bios chip with the latest Asus BIOS from badflash.com and it works great! No more AMI Gateway BIOS! =)

I bet it would fix a lot of issues for some people out there too. I think it was only $20.

 

[CoCoKola]

oops; sorry for the off-topic - I wasn't thinking straight after spending two hours following the same damn links in circles looking for the rails that I know cost about $30 (and at this point I could care less - I found a client who is buying the server)

I've got hardware that is arriving in two days, but I need the rail kit to get them installed.

Thanks folks

 

[amgine]

Anyone else get a cmos error on their machines if they unplug the power cable. I have two 6400's and both have this problem....assuming its the battery but I don't want to deal with warantee support unless they'll just send me the replacement battery.

 

[Kostya17]

I unplugged it quite a few times (mostly when Sucks2K BSODs)--no CMOS errors so far...

 

[PlatinumGold]

i've unplugged mine and no cmos errors here either.

 

[amgine]

I called the company PlatinumGold mentioned, but the couldn't find the part so I sent an email to Palo Alto in the netherlands, I'll let you all know what I get out of it. Palo Alto's website is Linky Thanks again PlatinumGold

 

[Gunbuster]

Palo Alto is Flextroinics, you need to contact them for rails

 

[PlatinumGold]

gunbuster
have you gotten rails from flextroinics?

i haven't actually tried this yet myself. i didn't know about this 6 months ago when i bought rails from gateway for $30.00 or so.

 

[CoCoKola]

I finally called gateway who transfered me to another department who said they had the rails for $30.. I asked about the website not haivng the info and they said 98% of their parts are not on the website (This was a seperate division than the "accessory Store" although I don't recall their division name.) 20 minutes later for $60 I got two sets of rails.

What really burns me is spending 10 minutes on hold to a repating message "... please go to our website as all our parts are available 24/7 ..blah..blah."

 

[amgine]

WHO WANTS DRIVE RAILS....GET YOUR DRIVE RAILS HERE.

Putting together an order for drive rails for 5 1/4 and 3 1/2 (sorry no floppies) I'm guessing we can get enough people together to order 50 3 1/2 and 20 5 1/4 so the rep is getting me pricing on it. I'll let you'll know later today.

 

[Kwad Guy]

If the rails are cheap enough, I'd be in for a bunch.

Let me know the price...

(These rails should be about $2/pair, if they were available through
standard channels!)

Kwad

 

[amgine]

Cheapest price before was 30 for a set of one of each type...I'll let you know what the bulk prices are like as soon as I get em. The lady sent me a confirmation email with pictures and the look good!

 

[cleek]

I'm in for 4 3.5 and 4 5.25

 

[Kwad Guy]

SO...what's up with this? Any news about price?

Kwad

 

[amgine]

Ok, here's the deal......I talked to the lady at flextronics, the manufacturer and she said that the minumum lot is 1200 and the rails are purchased as seperate pieces. Good news is they are only 20 cents a rail, 40 a pair. Bad news you have to buy 1200 of each rail for 3 1/2 (5 1/4 rails are identical to each other) so that means a minumum pricetag of $720 if you need both 3 1/2 and 5 1/4. I'm working with the manufacturer and their main distributor to get this item sellable in quantities we can afford. I'm sure the markup will be severe, but I doubt it will be anywhere nearly as rediculous as 30 from gateway direct. Will let you know who we can buy from next week and hopefully how much they will be.

 

[PlatinumGold]

good work amgine.

i guess i coulda done the legwork myself, but hey, at least i helped a little.

 

[CoCoKola]

I received my rails, and I have all I need. I have extras (2 (L&R) raise HD rails, 4 5.25" rails, two 3 1/2 rails, two HDD Rails - all available at my cost. write me for more info..

 

[kof]

<< Ok, here's the deal......I talked to the lady at flextronics, the manufacturer and she said that the minumum lot is 1200 and the rails are purchased as seperate pieces. Good news is they are only 20 cents a rail, 40 a pair. Bad news you have to buy 1200 of each rail for 3 1/2 (5 1/4 rails are identical to each other) so that means a minumum pricetag of $720 if you need both 3 1/2 and 5 1/4. I'm working with the manufacturer and their main distributor to get this item sellable in quantities we can afford. I'm sure the markup will be severe, but I doubt it will be anywhere nearly as rediculous as 30 from gateway direct. Will let you know who we can buy from next week and hopefully how much they will be. >>


Way to go!! I gave up tracking them down. Flextronics never returned my e-mails.
Now we need to put in our sig's a link to here so the info spreads like a virus. If you could set up a paypal site I'm sure peeps would gladly fork over $2 a pair, which would be fair, but if you bought the $720 batch you'd need to sell alot to make it worhtwhile.

 

[purpledemon]

any news on the rails ?


amgine ... did you actually buy a whole lot ?

 

[Kwad Guy]

At $0.20/each, I'd go in for 100 rails (50 pairs) of 5.25" for $20 and 50 rails (25 pairs) of 3.5" rails for $10.
Heck, if need be, I'd go $40 for 50 pairs of each type.

That would mean you only need 23 more dopes like me. $40 for all the rails I'll use in this
lifetime is a lot better than $30 for one set.

Kwad

 

[Kostya17]

Got PM about a problem with Ultra-ATA 100 controller. Here are my findings-think they should be here in this forum:

1. Unlike videocards, ATA-100 controller worked fine in every PCI slot, so I moved it to a slot closest to CPU (I think it's #1; not really sure) since my video/capture cards would not function there

2. Most "forgiving" PCI slot is the 64-bit one--everything works there (even that damn SIS videocard that locked down SCSI). You might want to leave that alone in case you'll get video capture board later on.

3. From your message, your GW goes through POST OK, right? Then you should be able to see the drive in BIOS setup (press F1 during memory test).

4. Tricky part: the GW BIOS setup has 2 separate menus under "BOOT" tab to set-up boot drive(s) priority. In one menu, you select what kind of device should boot 1st (HD, floppy, CDROM). Make sure HD is 1st on the list. On the 2nd menu, you chose which HD should be used. Make sure it is your SCSI drive.

5. That's it! Save changes and exit BIOS.

If you cannot locate these menus in the BIOS, sent me a message to MH3023@hotmail.com I'll find my old trusty 307 kilopixell camera (don't laugh!) and try to make some screenshots for ya. Hopefully my kid hasn't put his hands on it yet ;-)

 

[amgine]

I' still working down the minimum order size, down almost to a reasonable amount.